Dance of the Crescent Moon
by Umma-UnniComplex
Summary: Set some time after Aizen's defection. Sayuri is a female shinigami and adoptive daughter of a noblewoman. She is named heir to her estate but by tradition she can't become heir. Unless she marries a noble, her clan will lose all it has. But who? ByaXOC


Title: Dance of the Crescent Moon

Anime: Bleach

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH. TITE KUBO OWNS IT. IF I OWNED IT, CERTAIN PEOPLE WOULD BE TOGETHER (and not necessarily in straight pairings either!)

**References**

-taichou : captain (if you didn't already know)

-fukutaichou : vice-captain or luietenant (you should know this, people)

-san : polite honorific used for someone you have just met or are aquainted with but not close to the speaker

-kun : a polite honorific usually reserved for those of the male gender whom the speaker is close to but can also be used as a more respectful term than -chan for someone of the female gender

-chan : suffix used for young children and those of female gender

-sama : extremely formal honorific usually reserved for nobles or highborn individuals but can be used as a title of respect for those older than the speaker or simply as a title of high respect

Nani: What? (if you don't know this, either something's wrong with you or you've never watched the Japanese version of anything)

ne : Used in the beginning of a sentence, it is much like "Hey" (which is "Oi!"). However, when used at the end of a sentence, the sentence becomes much like a question. (I.E. "It is nice today, ne?")

jigoku-chou (s) : hell butterflies (I'm sure you know this one, people.)

kosode : inner shirt, usually white in color

hitoe : outer shirt

haori : sleeved or sleeveless garment worn over kimono (the white garment that the captains wear)

hakama : traditional pant-like garment (pants worn by shinigami)

tabi : split toe socks worn with geta and the like

geta : traditional Japanese style sandals

shunpo : flash steps

tu dou: a type of Chinese originated backless undergarment that resembles a halter shirt. It is a simple garment made of a diamond or square-cut piece of cloth draped over a woman's chest with strings to tie at the neck and back.

----

"Hitsugaya-taichou."

Matsumoto turned as she heard a soft voice address her captain calmly. The white-haired shinigami

didn't seem to be surprised by the dark-haired girl that had just entered the divisions' quarters.

Matsumoto studied the girl. She wasn't voluptuous; her figure was more slender. She had a medium-sized bust and modest hips. She was quite fair-skinned and her raven black hair only made it seem even more so. A scarlet hair ribbon tied part of her hair up into a high ponytail.

She was taller than her captain so she was probably older. She didn't look it though and her crimson eyes were calm and serene. She looked like an ordinary shinigami and wore the usual shinigami's uniform, her reiatsu controlled and seemingly at a normal lvl.

Until Matsumoto caught a glimpse of the crest painstakingly embroidered on the edge of one sleeve.

It was an iridescent butterfly perched on delicate silver-green vine. The crest of the Hatsumono Clan.

"Yes?"

The mysterious female handed him a small scroll.

The snowy-haired prodigy nodded. The girl inclined her head slightly before leaving just as quietly as she came.

Matsumoto looked questioningly at the doorway the other female just left through then to her captain.

"Taichou, who was that?"

Toushiro shook his head. "If I tell you, will you promise not to set me up with her?"

The strawberry-blonde pouted. "Fine."

"I honestly don't know."

"NANI?!"

Toushiro smirked.

----

"As you all know, I've called for all of you to be here."

Most of the captains either nodded or made some reaction that showed that they were listening.

"I've called this meeting to discuss the topic of replacing the captains that have defected. I have found a promising candidate to take the place of Aizen."

Unohana moved to look at the 1st unit captain. "You want for us to see if this shinigami can activate bankai, Yamamoto-taichou?"

"Yes." Not too soon after the elderly shinigami replied to the healer's question, the captains felt a quiet yet somehow powerful reiatsu approaching the room.

The large door opened slowly with a creak. A not-so-tall-but-not-short female shinigami entered the room slowly.

Hitsugaya realized she was the one who had come with the message before. The mysterious female spoke, her voice soft-spoken and calm, much like Unohana's herself. Yet her voice was quiet and strangely soothing.

"You asked for my presence, Yamamoto-taichou?" Her zanpakuto was sheathed on her waist and appeared to be a normal katana, until she turned slightly. It was revealed to be a single hilt with two sword blades, a brilliant sapphire sky blue ribbon wrapped around the hilt to be tied with its ends trailing from the top of the hilt.

**(A/N: If you've watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, her sword looks exactly like Kadaj's only with a blue ribbon wrapped around the hilt.)**

"Yes, I believe it is time for you to demonstrate your abilities as a shinigami. Of course, you will have to fight against one of the captains and be able to perform bankai."

The girl, revealed as Sayuri, nodded once. "I understand."

----

Toushiro uncrossed his arms as Sayuri stepped into the large arena like area. The dark haired female unsheathed her sword, the steel catching the light as she flipped it so she held it in a reverse grip. The hilt was black but was wrapped in a blue ribbon that looked like it was a shred of the sky itself.

She shifted her body so she stood in a sideways stance, her legs apart and knees bent. Her sword arm was on the side facing him and her other hand was held out slightly, elbow bent.

Guessing correctly that she wasn't going to attack first, the snow element shinigami unsheathed his sword and quickly slashed at her. She looked surprised at first as the wound began to bleed and Toushiro wondered to himself why the commander-general thought she was captain material.

Then she smirked and disintegrated into a myriad of plum blossoms. Toushiro's eyes widened slightly before he composed himself quickly and looked around for the real one.

Sensing a subdued reiatsu, he turned around quickly and attacked Sayuri who had reappeared behind him. She block it and he pulled back, slashing again.

She leapt back, landing quietly. She adjusted her grip on her zanpakuto before attacking.

As expected he blocked and counter-attacked, Sayuri avoiding it by leaping and hand-springing back.

The battle went this way for awhile, occasionally one of them landing a successful blow.

Eventually Sayuri leapt aways off, landing on the wall of the arena momentarily, enough for her dodge Toushiro's swift attacks and using shunpo to get farther away.

She landed on the ground, enough distance between her and Toushiro to stand in a normal position, holding out her sword.

"Mae raiku za gekkou tsuujite za banda no ato senbonzakura, Chigetsu! (Dance like the moonlight through the many branches of a thousand cherry blossoms, Chigetsu!)" Her soul slayer pulsed once, beginning its transformation.

It glowed a faint red, the blade seeming to slide to the side. Another blade formed right next to it, the zanpakuto giving off another pulse when it finished.

Her eyes flashed a brighter shade of red as she twirled her sword almost teasingly, stepping into a different stance. This time she didn't seem to be in a fighting stance, standing as though she were simply standing.

"You are happy to be let out, ne, Chigetsu?" Sayuri asked, smiling a soft crescent eyed smile. Her face returned to its previous serious expression quickly, however, and she resumed attacking the 11th Division captain.

Toushiro noticed that she had suddenly become quicker, her slashes entirely one-handed and swift. He attacked her, aiming for her torso.

Sayuri turned her sword abruptly, positioning it so the shinigami prodigy's zanpakuto slid through the space between the separate blades of her own sword.

She moved her head to the side, avoiding the long blade of his sword before twisting her arm up and over her head, as if she were dancing. Hyorinmaru (in case you didn't know, it's the name of Toushiro's zanpakuto or soul slayer) was nearly wrenched from her opponent's hands but he held onto it tightly and was only staggered off-balance slightly.

Sayuri didn't relent, continuing to slash back and forth. Toushiro backed up, moving his upper body side to side to dodge her sharp blades.

"Bumen no za karite gai! (Phase of the Reaper's Scythe!)" She slashed quickly in an almost circular shape several times.

Toushiro managed to dodge the first three, the last one landing and cutting his cheek and his left shoulder. He winced slightly before counter-attacking.

Sayuri dodged his first attack, not expecting a second. He attacked again right when she dodged, striking the instant her guard dropped just slightly. He threw the chain attached to Hyorinmaru's hilt forward, Sayuri dodging it.

The crescent-shaped blade was narrowly avoided but wounding Sayuri was not the ice shinigami's intention...yet. Sayuri felt a pulling at her blade and found that the young captain had her black blades wrapped in the chain and was smirking. The blade became incased with ice instantly.

"Heh..."

Toushiro used her moment of surprise to pull her forward and impale her shoulder with his soul slayer.

Her eyes widened as the blade made contact with her left shoulder. She leapt away, her hand clutching the wound on her shoulder, the blue ribbon of the sword changing to a reddish black-blue as the blood from her injury stained it.

She panted, just as Toushiro did. They had been at it for at least half an hour but it seemed like forever to the both of them. Chigetsu pulsed once more, shatterring its icy cocoon.

Sayuri winced when the fabric of her hitoe stuck to the moist wound on her shoulder. Her blood stained fingers gripped the cloth tightly and she pulled sharply, tearing off her outer shirt. She let the torn and bloodstained hitoe fall to the ground softly.

She now only wore a white tu dou and her shoulders, back, and arms were all bare. Where Toushiro had injured her, the halter-top like garment was stained red and had a slit where the blade had cut through.

"Now is when I show Chigetsu's true form...Hitsugaya-taichou." Sayuri took her crimson colored fingers, still wet with her red essence, and swiped them across the kanji that marked Chigetsu's blade.

"Ban kai..." Her eyes closed as glowing scarlet colored tendrils of reiatsu erupted and flared from her form. Her wounds began to close rapidly, healing themselves. Her dark black hair flew freely, the scarlet ribbon having long since been cut from her locks.

She crossed her arms in an X-shape in front of her, zanpakuto in hand. The blades began to change, becoming black with a red edges. The blue ribbon disintegrated, replaced by leather belts buckled around it, except for one spot where a mirror-like ornament formed. A chain formed from the end of the hilt, ending in a black metal ring.

All the scarlet reiatsu was absorbed into the blade and it pulsed once, a blood curdling chill emanating from the deadly blade.

"Mae, Ikusensou Chigetsu!" ("Dance, Thousand Phase Blood Moon!") Sayuri swept her arms upwards and to her sides, her eyes flashing once more.

"Ripurike-to! San!" ("Replicate! Three!") In front of Sayuri, three exact copies of her formed. Toushiro looked at her in shock and surprise. How many tricks did this girl have up her sleeve?

"Torisaru sono ichi izure aete sakarou waga ken!" ("Eliminate the one who defies my blade!") All of them spoke at once, lifting their swords so they held them vertically right in front of their faces.

"Bumen no za karite gai!" The replicas attacked, sending reiatsu compressed slashes at Toushiro, who used flash steps to dodge their slash waves.

"Over here." Toushiro turned in surprise, Sayuri using the opputunity to twist in the air and slash straight down Toushiro's right side.

He used the momentum the air gave him to attack back before leaping away. Sayuri disappeared in the next instant and reappeared on the ground, on one knee.

The replicas split up and went in different directions. Toushiro looked around to see any sign of them, seeing as they had all but vanished.

He turned around suddenly, blocking an oncoming strike from Sayuri. She used her other hand to cast a kido spell, fingertips glowing red.

Golden red fire erupted from her hand, the scorching flames consuming the prodigy's vision.

Toushiro was blown back by the angry heat of the flames, landing on his feet aways off. There was a glowing of faint white light and he turned around, deftly slashing her shoulder and below.

Sayuri's eyes widened before she disintegrated into flower petals, causing Toushiro to curse mentally.

"It seems like I underestimated you." He said, scanning his surroundings.

He blocked an attack from yet another replica, looking around for the real one as it disintegrated into a multitude of tiny white purple plum blossom petals.

Toushiro sensed a quickly approaching wave of reiatsu and turned around, leaping away in time before it could touch him.

Before he knew it howver, another red wave of reiatsu was coming for him, hitting him from the side. He flew back a far distance off, flipping and managing to land crouched on one knee.

He breathed harshly, lifting his hand to wipe blood from the corner of his mouth. The mirror-like ornament was still glowing, a white half moon illuminated in its depths.

"I guess I'll have to be serious then." He blocked a couple of well-aimed attacks from Sayuri before leaping back.

"Ban kai, Daiguren Hyorinmaru!" Sayuri watched as ice covered the entire arena and icy wings and a tail formed on Hitsugaya, a trio crystallized lotus flowers blooming from ice alone forming behind him. Ice formed into a dragon's head around his sword hand, encasing it up into the hilt.

Sayuri covered her face with her arm to guard her eyes from the frigid wind. It seemed she shouldn't have, seeing as when she looked back at the 10th Division captain he was gone.

She turned around, feeling icy air chilling her bare back. Her eyes widened before she was stabbed in her lower stomach, the bloodied blade blooming out of her back. Her body became encased in ice and Toushiro pulled out his sword, causing the female shinigami to shatter.

"Bumen no za karite gai!" Sayuri leapt and launched herself off the arena's wall, twisting her body so a myriad of black crescent moon slashes flew off from her rapidly spinning body and in all directions. Flipping when she neared the ground, she resorted to normal attacks once more, slashing rapidly from side to side.

Toushiro folded his icy wings to block her attacks. Sayuri's face was just as serious and stubborn as ever as she continued to slash at his frozen barrier. She panted, smoky puffs of her breath forming as she breathed in and out. She leapt a far distance off, preparing herself to do her next attack.

Twirling her blade the first time in quite awhile, reiatsu began to gather as she continued to twirl Chigetsu several more time, the blades pulsing and glowing a brighter red with each quick flick of her wrist.

"Mae no joushou getsuei!" ("Dance of the Rising Moon!") She ran in a straight path towards Toushiro, dragging the tip of Chigetsu's blade into the ground, reiatsu continuing to condense and gather into the blade as she ran.

She slashed upwards, a colossal wave of crackling red and black spirit energy surging rapidly towards him and slamming into the shield of his frozen dragon wings. The energy pushed against his barrier, cutting into the crystallized water.

Toushiro pushed back with his wings, attempting to force the energy back. Sayuri perservered however and continued to flow reiatsu into the attack, tendrils and threads of her spirit force coming off her and Chigetsu and into the black and red wave of reiatsu.

The two were neutral at first, equal forces pushing each other back and forth, inch by inch. The two stubborn shinigami refused to let down their defense (in the case of Toushiro) and offense (in the case of Sayuri).

Eventually though, it began to show that Sayuri was the more persistent one, her determined eyes flaring as the wave of bi-colored energy began to cut through the thick ice. She twirled her blade once more, reiatsu gathering but not as much as before.

She sliced downwards this time, a black crescent shooting from her blade right into her first wave of energy.

"Mae no joushou getsuei, Ikusensou Chigetsu!" It flew through the air, ripping through the ground and slamming into her first reiatsu wave. They fused and shot forward suddenly, surprising and shocking Toushiro as his crystal ice wings cracked and shattered.

"Nani?" Sayuri panted heavily, the amount of reiatsu she flowed into that emormous attack finally taking its toll on her body. Wounds she had sustained from the snowy-haired boy she was still fighting criss-crossed her arms and a cut on her cheek had reddened after it stopped bleeding.

Toushiro, though still shocked that Sayuri shattered his wings, resumed attacking the female shinigami, finding her exhaustion a great advantage. Sayuri, still recovering, could only block or completely avoid his attacks, his speed overpowering hers now.

Sayuri glanced at the mirror on the hilt of her zanpakuto. A waxing crescent moon was visible just before Sayuri leaned back to narrowly dodge Toushiro's Hyorinmaru. Using the advantage of her low bent position, she flipped on to her hand and threw Toushiro over her by getting her legs under his arms and using the momentum to launch him into the air.

She backflipped to dodge his attacks, adrenaline helping her to recover much more quickly than normally. She blocked his strikes quickly, using shunpo to quicken her still slightly sluggish movements.

She sliced sharply, the blade cutting through Toushiro's already torn shinigami robes and wounding him.

Sayuri glanced to look at her phase mirror, pleased when the scythe shaped crescent moon faded leaving only lucid luminescence. She swept her thumb over one of her wounds, blood staining the pale digit. She drew a droplet shaped swirl on the mirror, the symbol glowing white before being absorbed into the mirror.

An apparition began to form behind Sayuri, revealing itself to be a young looking maiden with ancient looking golden eyes flickering like a pair of burial lanterns behind a curtain of long waist length ebony hair.

She slowly began to materialize and become opaque, her pale skin losing its previous translucency. Her floating form gently touched down, her geta and tabi covered feet not making a sound.

She was dressed in a dark blood red satin kimono decorated with black and red jigoku-chous and black plum blossom blossoms and branches, free flying petals painstakingly sewn on the fabric. The kimono split down the center underneath the black brocade obi tied closed with a tasselled white cord. Underneath the kimono she wore patternless black hakama that peeked out from the hem of the kimono.

Over this she wore a black haori with "blood" stained white plum blossoms decorating the bottom, sleeves, and back of it. A leather belt completed the garment, crossing diagonally over her chest and holding the sheath of a katana with a white hilt.

She was at least 6 feet tall and towered over the Hatsumono who was only 5'5" at most. She looked down at her wielder who looked up at her in return. Her expression was very much like the one a certain Kuchiki always wore with the exception that her eyes held a hint of amusement instead of just apathy.

"You have more wounds than usual, Sayuri." The woman held her hands in her wide kimono sleeves as she spoke.

"Sumimasen, it has been long since I called you out...Chigetsu." Toushiro's eyes widened. _Chigetsu? That woman is her zanpakuto's spirit?_

"It is understandable." Chigetsu reached behind her, unsheathing her own katana slowly.

The two stood beside each other, their faces now devoid of any emotion whatsoever. They raised their swords as one, pointing them towards the sky.

"Zansatsu no aete ikusen inosentosu!" ("Massacre of a Thousand Innocents!")

Red lightning made of compressed reiatsu shot from the tips of their katanas up into the sky where it crackled and crashed like thunder. The clouds darkened instantly and expanded to fill the sky and parted at the center, revealing an eerily glowing red moon.

Toushiro looked around, finding that around them was a cloud of plum blossom petals floating in a ring circling them.

Sayuri and Chigetsu suddenly disappeared in less thanthe blink of an eye and Toushiro couldn't sense the shinigami's reiatsu anywhere, much less that of her sword spirit.

Suddenly he was hit with an onslaught of sword blows, gashes cutting into his light skin. How many times he was hit, he lost count. All he knew was that they came unbelieveably fast, not giving him time to react.

When the attacks finally ceased, Sayuri and Chigetsu reappeared, katanas held out. Chigetsu sheathed hers calmly while Sayuri panted trying to bring oxygen into her lungs faster.

Toushiro, exhaustion finally catching up to the white-haired prodigy, collapsed onto the ice frosted ground, his sword returning to its sealed state.

Sayuri took one step before she fell forward as well, Chigetsu catching her upper body before she began to lose consciousness.

"...so...tired..." Chigetsu faded back into Sayuri as the female's zanpakuto reverted back to its original one-bladed form. Sayuri fell forward, her arms and legs refusing to cooperate.

Sayuri blinked a few times, her eyelids becoming heavy as she began to slip into blank darkness. She continued to breath heavily, the last thing her eyes saw being the rubble and decimated arena field.

----

So, how'd I do? Fight scene good? Bad? Too long? Too short?

If there are any errors, please tell me. This is my first BLEACH fanfictionso give meh some constructive criticism.

Don't forget to R&R!!!

Ja,

ReVeRsE nItEmArEs


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